This article is about the cocktail. For other uses, see Old-fashioned.
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Place sugar cube in old fashioned glass and saturate with bitters, add a dash of plain water. Muddle until dissolved. Fill the glass with ice cubes and add whiskey. Garnish with orange twist, and a cocktail cherry.
The Old Fashioned is a cocktail made by muddling sugar with bitters, adding whiskey or, less commonly, brandy, and garnishing with a twist of citrus rind. It is traditionally served in an Old Fashioned glass (also known as rocks glass), which predated the cocktail.
A cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink, which is either a combination of spirits, or one or more spirits mixed with other ingredients such as fruit juice, flavored syrup, or cream. There are various types of cocktails, based on the number and kind of ingredients added. The origins of the cocktail are debated.
A muddler is a bartender's tool, used like a pestle to mash—or muddle—fruits, herbs and spices in the bottom of a glass to release their flavor.
A bitters is traditionally an alcoholic preparation flavored with botanical matter so that the end result is characterized by a bitter, sour, or bittersweet flavor. Numerous longstanding brands of bitters were originally developed as patent medicines, but now are sold as digestifs, sometimes with herbal properties, and cocktail flavorings. Since cocktails mainly contain sour and sweet flavors, bitters are used to engage another primary taste and thereby balance out the drink and make it more complex, giving it a more complete flavor profile.
David Augustus Embury was an American attorney and author of The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks (1948), an encyclopedia of the 20th century cocktail.
The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks is a book about cocktails by David A. Embury, first published in 1948. The book is noteworthy for its witty, highly opinionated and conversational tone, as well as its categorization of cocktails into two main types: aromatic and sour; its categorization of ingredients into three categories: the base, modifying agents, and special flavorings and coloring agents; and its 1:2:8 ratio for sour type cocktails.
History
The first documented definition of the word "cocktail" was in response to a reader's letter asking to define the word in the May 6, 1806, issue of The Balance and Columbian Repository in Hudson, New York. In the May 13, 1806, issue, the paper's editor wrote that it was a potent concoction of spirits, bitters, water, and sugar; it was also referred to at the time as a bittered sling.[2][3] J.E. Alexander describes the cocktail similarly in 1833, as he encountered it in New York City, as being rum, gin, or brandy, significant water, bitters, and sugar, though he includes a nutmeg garnish as well.[4]
Hudson is a city located along the west border of Columbia County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 6,713, the second-largest in the county, following the nearby town of Kinderhook. Located on the east side of the Hudson River and 120 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, it was named for the river and its namesake explorer Henry Hudson.
By the 1860s, it was common for orange curaçao, absinthe, and other liqueurs to be added to the cocktail. The original concoction, albeit in different proportions, came back into vogue, and was referred to as "old-fashioned".[5][6] The most popular of the in-vogue "old-fashioned" cocktails were made with whiskey, according to a Chicago barman, quoted in the Chicago Daily Tribune in 1882, with rye being more popular than Bourbon. The recipe he describes is a similar combination of spirits, bitters, water and sugar of seventy-six years earlier.[6]
Absinthe is historically described as a distilled, highly alcoholic beverage. It is an anise-flavoured spirit derived from botanicals, including the flowers and leaves of Artemisia absinthium, together with green anise, sweet fennel, and other medicinal and culinary herbs.
A liqueur is an alcoholic drink composed of distilled spirits and additional flavorings such as sugar, fruits, herbs, and spices. Often served with or after dessert, they are typically heavily sweetened and un-aged beyond a resting period during production, when necessary, for their flavors to mingle.
The first mention in print of "old fashioned cocktails" was in the Chicago Daily Tribune in February of 1880. [7] However, the Pendennis Club, a gentlemen's club founded in 1881 in Louisville, Kentucky, claims the Old Fashioned cocktail was invented there. The recipe was said to have been invented by a bartender at that club in honor of Colonel James E. Pepper, a prominent bourbon distiller, who brought it to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel bar in New York City.[8]
The Pendennis Club is a private social club located at 218 West Muhammad Ali Blvd. in Louisville, Kentucky. It originated as a gentlemen's "city" club on the model of the clubs in London, Britain, of which White's Club founded in 1693 is the progenitor. The Pendennis Club has long been regarded as the preeminent social club in Kentucky and one of the premier clubs in the United States.
Louisville is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 29th most-populous city in the United States. It is one of two cities in Kentucky designated as first-class, the other being Lexington, the state's second-largest city. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border.
James E. Pepper is an American whiskey brand. The brand is named after a historic whiskey maker with that name who built and operated a distillery in Lexington, Kentucky, and marketed his whiskey under his family's brand name "Old Pepper" and under his own name. The brand's distillery, known as the Henry Clay distillery and later as the Old Pepper distillery and James E. Pepper distillery, was shut down in 1958 and was left abandoned for more than 50 years until Amir Peay purchased the historic distillery site and relaunched the brand name in 2008. Distilling resumed at the site in 2017.
With its conception rooted in the city's history, in 2015 the city of Louisville named the Old Fashioned as its official cocktail. Each year, during the first two weeks of June, Louisville celebrates "Old Fashioned Fortnight" which encompasses bourbon events, cocktail specials and National Bourbon Day which is always celebrated on June 14.[9]
Recipe
George Kappeler provides several of the earliest published recipes for Old Fashioned cocktails in his 1895 book. Recipes are given for Whiskey, Brandy, Holland gin, and Old Tom gin. The Whiskey Old Fashioned recipe specifies the following (with a jigger being 2 US fluid ounces (59ml)):[10]
Old Fashioned Whiskey Cocktail Dissolve a small lump of sugar with a little water in a whiskey-glass; add two dashes Angostura bitters, a small piece of ice, a piece of lemon-peel, one jigger whiskey. Mix with small bar-spoon and serve, leaving spoon in glass.[10]
By the 1860s, as illustrated by Jerry Thomas' 1862 book, basic cocktail recipes included Curaçao, or other liqueurs. These liqueurs were not mentioned in the early 19th century descriptions, nor the Chicago Daily Tribune descriptions of the "Old Fashioned" cocktails of the early 1880s; they were absent from Kappeler's Old Fashioned recipes as well. The differences of the Old Fashioned cocktail recipes from the cocktail recipes of the late 19th Century are mainly preparation method, the use of sugar and water in lieu of simple or gomme syrup, and the absence of additional liqueurs. These Old Fashioned cocktail recipes are literally for cocktails done the old-fashioned way.[6]
Gin Cocktail Use small bar glass 3 or 4 dashes of gum syrup 2 do [dashes] bitters Bogart's 1 wine glass of gin 1 or 2 dashes of Curaçao 1 small piece lemon peel fill one third full of fine ice shake well and strain in a glass[11]
Old Fashioned Holland Gin Cocktail Crush a small lump of sugar in a whiskey glass containing a little water, add a lump of ice, two dashes of Angostura bitters, a small piece of lemon peel, one jigger Holland gin. Mix with small bar spoon. Serve.[10]
A book by David Embury published in 1948 provides a slight variation,[12] specifying 12 parts American whiskey, 1 part simple syrup, 1-3 dashes Angostura bitters, a twist of lemon peel over the top, and serve garnished with the lemon peel.
Two additional recipes from the 1900s vary in the precise ingredients, but omit the cherry which was introduced after 1930 as well as the soda water which the occasional recipe calls for. Orange bitters were a popular ingredient in the late 19th century.[13]
Modifications
The original Old Fashioned recipe would have showcased the whiskey available in America in the 19th century: Irish, Bourbon or rye whiskey.[14] But in some regions, especially Wisconsin, brandy is substituted for whiskey (sometimes called a Brandy Old Fashioned).[15][16][17] Eventually the use of other spirits became common, such as a gin recipe becoming popularized in the late 1940s.[14]
Common garnishes for an Old Fashioned include an orange slice or a maraschino cherry or both,[14] although these modifications came around 1930, some time after the original recipe was invented.[18] While some recipes began making sparse use of the orange zest for flavor, the practice of muddling orange and other fruit gained prevalence as late as the 1990s.[18]
Some modern variants have greatly sweetened the Old Fashioned, e.g. by adding blood orange soda to make a Fizzy Old Fashioned, or muddled strawberries to make a strawberry old fashioned.[19]
Cultural impact
The Old Fashioned is the cocktail of choice of Don Draper, the lead character on the Mad Men television series, set in the 1960s.[20] The use of the drink in the series coincided with a renewed interest in this and other classic cocktails in the 2000s.[21]
In the movie It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), pilot Tyler Fitzgerald (Jim Backus) directs passenger Dingy Bell (Mickey Rooney) to the aircraft's bar to "make us some Old Fashioneds." Annoyed by suggestions that he should limit drinking while piloting an airplane, and finding Bell's Old Fashioneds too sweet, Fitzgerald turns the controls over to Bell's sidekick Benjy Benjamin (Buddy Hackett) and retires to the back of the plane to "make some Old Fashioneds the Old Fashioned way, the way dear old dad used to." When Benjamin asks what if something happens, Fitzgerald replies, "What could happen to an Old Fashioned?"
In the television series M*A*S*H, character Margaret Houlihan frequently orders an Old Fashioned, "without the fruit", while in the Officers Club.
In the television series Grey's Anatomy, in the fourth episode of the ninth season, Dr. Christina Yang and Dr. Thomas order two Old Fashioned in a bar after duty hours at The Clinic.
In the movie Crazy, Stupid, Love, the Old Fashioned is the preferred cocktail of pickup artist Jacob Palmer, and he is shown drinking it both in the bar and at home.
A gin and tonic is a highball cocktail made with gin and tonic water poured over a large amount of ice. The ratio of gin to tonic varies according to taste, strength of the gin, other drink mixers being added, etc., with most recipes calling for between a 1:1 to 1:3 ratio. It is usually garnished with a slice or wedge of lime. To preserve effervescence, the tonic can be poured down a bar spoon. The ice helps chill the gin to dull the effect of the alcohol in the mouth, making it more pleasant to taste.
A Manhattan is a cocktail made with whisky, sweet vermouth, and bitters. While rye is the traditional whiskey of choice, other commonly used whiskies include Canadian whisky, bourbon, blended whiskey, and Tennessee whiskey. The cocktail is usually stirred then strained into a cocktail glass and garnished with a Maraschino cherry. A Manhattan may also be served on the rocks in a lowball glass.
The martini is a cocktail made with gin and vermouth, and garnished with an olive or a lemon twist. Over the years, the martini has become one of the best-known mixed alcoholic beverages.
The Singapore Sling is a gin-based sling cocktail from Singapore. This long drink was developed sometime before 1915 by Ngiam Tong Boon, a Hainanese bartender working at the Long Bar in Raffles Hotel, Singapore. It was initially called the gin sling – a sling was originally a North American drink composed of spirit and water, sweetened and flavored.
Pink gin is a cocktailmade fashionable in England in the mid-19th century, consisting of Plymouth gin and a dash of Angostura bitters, a dark red bitters that makes the whole drink pinkish. Lemon rind is also commonly used as a garnish, with the citrus essential oils subtly complementing the flavour.
The term punch refers to a wide assortment of drinks, both non-alcoholic and alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice. The drink was introduced from India to the United Kingdom in the early seventeenth century, and from there its use spread to other countries. Punch is usually served at parties in large, wide bowls, known as punch bowls.
The Negroni is a popular Italian cocktail, made of one part gin, one part vermouth rosso, and one part Campari, garnished with orange peel. It is considered an apéritif.
A sour is a traditional family of mixed drinks. Common examples of sours are the margarita and the sidecar. Sours belong to one of the old families of original cocktails and are described by Jerry Thomas in his 1862 book How to Mix Drinks.
Angostura bitters is a concentrated bitters based on gentian, herbs and spices, by House of Angostura in Trinidad and Tobago. It is typically used for flavouring beverages or, less often, food. The bitters were first produced in the town of Angostura, hence the name, but do not contain angostura bark. The bottle is recognisable by its distinctive oversized label. 'Angostura' is Spanish for 'narrowing', the town of Angostura having been located at the first narrowing of the Orinoco River.
The Prince of Wales is a cocktail created by Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, who later became King Edward VII. There are several variations of the cocktail, but what they usually have in common is champagne, angostura bitters, sugar, either rye whiskey or cognac, and a liqueur.
Cocktail garnishes are decorative ornaments that add character or style to a mixed drink, most notably to cocktails.
The Brandy Daisy is a cocktail which first gained popularity in the late 19th century. One of the earliest known recipes was published in 1876 in the second edition of Jerry Thomas's The Bartenders Guide or How To Mix Drinks: The Bon-Vivants Companion:
Fill glass one-third full of shaved ice. Shake well, strain into a large cocktail glass, and fill up with Seltzer water from a syphon.
A sling is a drink that, in its classic form, is made with sugar, hot or cold water, nutmeg, and a spirit such as gin, whiskey, rum, or brandy. In its modern form, it is made with gin, sweet vermouth, lemon juice, simple syrup, Angostura bitters, and soda water. The word "sling" comes from the German "schlingen", meaning "to swallow".
The Martinez is a classic cocktail that is widely regarded as the direct precursor to the Martini. It serves as the basis for many modern cocktails, and several different versions of the original exist. These are generally distinguished by the accompaniment of either Maraschino or Curacao, as well as differences in gin or bitters.
A whiskey cocktail is a cocktail that includes whiskey. Although whiskey is often served neat or on the rocks, it is used in many classic cocktails such as the Old Fashioned, Manhattan, and Julep. Some specifically call for Scotch whiskey or bourbon whiskey.
The lion's tail is a daiquiri-like cocktail made with bourbon, allspice dram, lime juice, simple syrup or gomme syrup, and angostura bitters, and garnished with orange peel oil or a lime zest twist. Egg white can also be added. The drink has much in common with a whiskey sour except with lime in place of lemon.
↑ Alexander, J.E. (1833). Transatlantic Sketches, comprising visits to the most interesting scenes in North and South America, and the West Indies, Volume II.
Schmid, Albert W. A. (2012). The Old Fashioned: An Essential Guide to the Original Whiskey Cocktail. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN978-0-8131-4173-2.
Simonson, Robert (2014). The Old-Fashioned: The Story of the World's First Classic Cocktail, with Recipes and Lore. Ten Speed Press. ISBN978-1607745358.
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